The End of May - Beginning of June

I forgot to add that I did a "stepping stone" kit with Samantha on Mother's Day.  We had to run to Wal-Mart that morning and that was when I saw it.  I just thought "we have to try it".  It wasn't too much of a mess, but it wasn't exactly flawless.  I wanted to just do a circle and put her hand prints in it.  Simple enough, right? Wrong.  The mold that came with it was a circle but had flowers imprinted on the top and the directions said you could use some other circular mold.  I have several cheesecake pans because I use to cook them frequently. I decided to use one thinking I would just pop the sides off and the "stone" would come right out.  HA - HA - Ha.  I had to chisel them off of the flat pan piece.  They look nice, but where not as "easy" as I thought they would.  Still a good project.

Since Mother's Day weekend, JM has been pretty busy at work and stays at the camper down there a lot.  With a 45 minute drive and getting done with work at close to midnight, it is more time effective for him to sleep down there. 

Samantha is "coming into her own" more and more.  That little personality is really starting to show.  She has her front top two teeth coming in now.  I think all last week she has been teething.  She hasn't been too bad, but hasn't exactly been a great JOY either. 
The Tuesday before Memorial Weekend, Grandma Keach came up to watch Samee.  Samee, in the mornings, always leaves the house with Joy so we've never really had to deal with separation anxiety.  When I picked her up on Tuesday she was happy to see me but freaked out a little when we were telling Grandma bye.  She thought I was leaving again.  Earlier that morning when I was telling her buy she was waving buy at Grandma; thinking that she was going with me and Grandma was staying at the house.
That night, I couldn't get more than 3 feet away from the girl.  What a little mess she way. 

Her sleeping habits over the past two weeks have been nothing short of atrocious. She will typically lay down very easy but is up within an hour and then is up off and on through the night.  She wakes up with this pitiful scream/cry and when I go in sometimes her eyes are shut.  When that happens it only takes a little back rub and a "sssshhh" and she's back to sleep.  If she's sitting up and wailing, it usually takes a little walk around the house or a rock in the chair.  I typically do this about 3 times and then give up and bring her into bed with me.  Then 2 more options come from that.  She will snuggle in or wiggle into the middle and share my pillow.  Then if she falls asleep very soundly, I can pick her up and take her back to her bed.  Though a lot of times, she doesn't fall asleep very "hard" but will let me pick her up and feel like a 20 pound sack of potatoes.  Then when I lay her in her bed she starts that horrible wail.  Some might read this and roll their eyes thinking "she's faking" or "she's manipulating the situation.  Regardless if that is true or not, the wail that she's doing now is the same one she did when she was having belly aches or something was wrong.  I have to wonder if it was her teeth.  This past week, she hasn't been as bad and on Thursday night she slept solid from 6 to 6 and Friday night she only woke up once and I didn't have to pick her up to get her back to sleep. 
I use to joke that I wasn't going to have another child until the 1st one slept through the night, consistently.  At this rate, Samee will be 16 before that happens!

Samee is quite the dancer and loves music of all types.  Over the past few weeks she has thrown in some new dance moves.  It's not just the stand and kind of squat and stand up and down, up and down. She sometimes has her hands in front of her and wiggles them with her.  NOW, she will jerk her hands back and forth really quick. (this move started in her carseat).  She has started to raise her hands up in the air and then bump up and down.  We've tried to get her to do the rock 'n' roll fist pump but it has just been a regular fist bump until the past two days.  She's trying really hard to fold down her middle and ring finger.  She has lately started turning in circles to the music with her arms out.  The turning circles really isn't new, but doing it to the music and extended her arms is.

Let's see, what else?  She can throw balls now, and fairly acurately.  She LOVES playing with the dogs because she can play fetch with them. 

She blows kisses, waves, gives high fives, and signs "more.  We're working on Thank You, Hungry, and Eat. 

She is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba.  When it is on, she sits or stands and never takes her eyes off the screen. 

She is beginning to want to do all the stuff we are.  Drink our drinks, walk down the stairs like a big girl instead of sitting and going down step by step, use a big girl spoon, etc.